This morning my proposal for a new service portfolio for IQUIP was approved by the committee assigned to oversee internal research and development projects. I wasn't that nervous, but having to present my views in front of the group was certainly not a very easy task.The name for the new service portfolio I wish to pursue is: "Dienstenpalet gebaseerd op eTOM." Translated into plain English, this means something like: "Service Portfolio based on eTOM." The eTOM model is a worldwide standard, a framework for describing business processes. Sound interesting? Basically it means going out to potential customers and offering to help them improve their business processes. For the last couple of years most companies like telecom operators have been very technology oriented, more interested in forcing the latest technological advances down the throats of the consumers without considering whether or not there is a market for such products. So much hype and cut-throat competition has brainwashed the world for some time now. But now with the lull in the economy and the ensuing crisis, these companies are realizing that they cannot serve the huge customer base they have unknowingly brought upon themselves very well. That's where I step in, introduce myself, slap a few faces, and reposition these poor souls so that they become customer-driven. Let's redefine the interfaces within your organization, check out the processes and work-flow management, ad infinitum. For a technical nerd like myself this is new and challenging ground to discover. I feel like a pioneer, but it is not easy groping ones way through the unknown.